They Call This Manhood
by NoteEmmy
Summary: Jonouchi entreats a twenty year old Mokuba to come out for his first sip of adulthood. COMPLETE


"The age when a wide eyed brat becomes a man!" Jonouchi had said over the phone. Mokuba wasn't so sure about that. His older brother had become a man much younger than twenty. His brother had also spared him the same fate by doing so. …in the end, was Mokuba ready to become this man everyone was expecting of him? That thought alone took way more precedence in his mind than what his friend had on the agenda for the evening.

Coming home just to celebrate his birthday seemed a bit silly now. It seemed ridiculous to fly all the way back to Japan from America just to get _drunk_. If that's what his friends really wanted to do though… how could he refuse? He hadn't seen them in what felt like forever. Sure he'd made friends in college, but none of them were real friends like Yuugi and the rest of them had been. At least that's what he thought.

But when he'd followed Jonouchi's directions out to some shady part of the city and found only the blond sitting there waiting for him in the parking lot, he began to question. _What kind of friends ditch out on someone else's birthday party_?

"Did you give them the wrong time or something?" He asked, standing as tall as his brother, giving the other a disapproving look that wasn't as harsh as aforementioned man. His arms folded over his chest as he looked around, hoping they were hiding around the corner. This crushing feeling of disappointment was terribly overwhelming.

The other duelist put his hand behind his head in a tried and true telltale sign of embarrassment. "Eh-heh. No. They just… wouldn't come." He didn't sound as upset about it as Mokuba felt.

"_Wouldn't come_?" He couldn't help the dismay that leaked into his voice as his eyes narrowed.

"Hey hey, come on now! Don't look at me like that." Jonouchi strode closer to the other, swinging an arm around those now broad shoulders and grinned. "They said they have another thing planned tomorrow. So tonight is all ours!" He cheered happily, escorting Mokuba into the place he'd picked out all on his own.

It became apparent to the Kaiba then why nobody had shown up. His shoulders tensed and he even shrugged the other off. Jonouchi's hands immediately went upwards in a sign of no offense- or perhaps a sign of 'don't deck me just yet'.

"Are you kidding me?" He growled, temper almost as legendary as his brother's. Speaking of which, "Do you even **know** what Nii-sama would do to you if he found out you pulled me here?" He was about half pissed off, half worried for Jonouchi's own personal safety. While he was a grown up now, sure, Seto still looked after him when he needed to.

If his brother found out he was slumming around in some dirty, broken down strip club…

His face warmed with embarrassment. He turned away from the blond.

"I'm leaving." He needed to get out. _Now_. Before things got out of hand, which they no doubt would.

A hand grabbed his shoulder. "Come on! I got us our own table and everything!" The duelist whined as if that was some kind of real accomplishment.

"I don't want anything to do with this!" Mokuba argued back, glaring at the other.

Jonouchi still smiled, though. "Come on, Mokuba. Kaiba won't find out." (Mokuba huffed a 'yeah right' under his breath at that) He pulled the other back in, back past the velvet rope and was almost surprised at how easy the task had become. Had Mokuba given up the fight?

The glare would say otherwise, but Jonouchi was hopeful. Once they were seated he called for the nearest topless waitress. Immediately his eyes were glazed and drool hanging just out of the corner of his mouth. But there were more important matters to be had here! "Hey! This kid just turned twenty! A round of your house special and keep 'em coming!" He was determined to get Mokuba absolutely plastered before they left this place.

Becoming a true man indeed.

Mokuba was glowering in his spot in the booth. And when another naked woman showed up he glared at her too. "Go away." He even growled, realizing she'd come for a private table top dance. It was amazing how much he looked like his brother just then.

Enough to get Jonouchi to tense. "Man, come on… it's really not that bad, is it?" The order of drinks had come in.

As if to prove a point that didn't exist, Mokuba reached one lanky arm out to grab a shot glass and down it in one go. The alcohol burned on contact and he was immediately proud of himself for not giving in to peer pressure back in America and going to all those mixers he'd been invited to. He wasn't sure he wanted another drink now, let alone the amount that came with 'keep 'em coming'.

"I just… was expecting something different." He sighed, disappointed. Yuugi and the gang, all there to see him. Maybe a private table at a real restaurant. A quiet affair. Happiness. Warmth. Friendship.

Not … this.

Jonouchi's elbow suddenly found itself nudging Mokuba's ribs. It got those gray eyes to look over, at least. "What's the matter? You don't like girls?" The blond grinned while he teased.

Mokuba's face grew incredibly hot. "I like girls just fine!" He protested, somehow so easy to embarrass- even in a situation that he had previously labeled 'can't get more embarrassing than this'.

That Cheshire grin grew until it reached both sides of his face. "Are you sure?" He leaned closer. "You can tell me if you like guys, I won't judge you or nothing." Closer still.

Mokuba backed up as far as he could into the torn plush leather of the booth. "J-Jonouchi stop it!" This was too much. It was too much and too embarrassing.

"Really man, that's fine with me if you do." He dragged the syllable out, leaning until he was just inches away from being right in the boy's lap. Mokuba could feel the warmth of his outward exhale right on his face. He could feel the crawl of his left hand landing just next to his thigh.

"I'm warning you Jonouchi!" And it was the last he'd get.

A firm and heavy hand landed on the blond's shoulder. "Consider the warning upgraded to action." Kaiba's cold voice intoned before Jonouchi found himself hitting achingly hard back against the floor.

Mokuba had never been so glad and yet so terrified of seeing his older brother. He somehow found a small space to breathe a sigh of relief before that terrible mortification washed over him again.


End file.
